Chapter Two
"Hey Tyre! What? Still can't admit defeat to a girl?" tested Li.
Tyre snapped out of his thoughts for a second time and answered, "Oh… no, just thinking."
"'Bout what?"
Tyre began thinking again; if he told Li what he was really thinking about he would be sure to laugh his head off. Ever since the day they were friends Li never thought so deep; his head was too basic. The first time Tyre tried to get half as deep as he was thinking now was a big mistake. With no better excuse Tyre answered, "I was just thinking about… issues."
"Uh-huh. Okay… come on pal, the emperor is going to award us the medals!" Li yanked Tyre's arm and hauled him up to the stage where the awards were to be given.
"Third place goes to Li Cyrae, second goes to Tyrone… Tyre Skyler, and finally, the Winner of this Annual Competition is Tai Caliste!" shouted the emperor. He placed around each of their necks a medallion with their names on it. Each of them wore it proudly and the emperor wanted to speak with each of them individually. The emperor decided to speak with Li first.
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"I see you've tried hard, but it ended up in failure. Such devotion deserves a reward. What do you desire my friend?"
Li froze, am I actually talking to the emperor? The high ruler of all three cities? The idol that every boy in the county wants to b…
"Do you want anything?"
Li thought about it and replied, "Well, I… I live in the land of Ruby City and m… my family can barely hang on with the... the budget we have left."
"So you desire money?" interrupted the emperor; many of the wishes he granted had a lot to do with money.
But Li was not finished, "Um… no, actually my father is interested in being a… a blacksmith and I was wondering if you could supply us with the materials needed to start."
The emperor thought and stroked his graybeard, "Hmm, for how long?"
"Just up until we're out of our financial problems and we can start fending for ourselves."
The emperor thought some more, "Hmm, very well, I shall grant you your request."
"Thank you sir."
The emperor ordered that a contract be written and signed. Li sat in the stands as Tyre was to be presented to the emperor.
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"Well my boy, you battled diligently as did the others, and I believe that second place deserves a little bit more."
Tyre was too stunned to say anything. The emperor shook his head, he knew that many of the boys living in the cities wanted to meet him, but their hesitations bored him at times. "Please, is there anything you are in need of… money, materials, anything?"
"A… bigger house would be nice your majesty."
"And why is that?"
"I have a mother and a father… and an older brother."
Unfortunately, Tyre added silently in his head, "We have money, but our house is too small to fit us all and we don't have enough to buy another one."
"Alright, I take your reason with respect and I'll grant you the right to have a bigger house of your choice."
"Thank you your majesty."
Tyre signed a contract with the emperor just as Li had done before.
Tyre took a seat next to Li and watched as Tai confidently, but reluctantly approached the platform in front of the throne.
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"Ah yes, the winner," said the emperor warmly, "This is quite an accomplishment for you, my b… I mean young lass. Though I have donated much to the wishes of the two other contestants, I do think you deserve something too."
Tai thought, accursed stepfamily! What person has such a life where the only thing they care for is themselves, even if it does them wrong? Those fools will take the credit of raising me too. They think they can take the place of my real parents, but they will never. I rather die than allow such a thing.
The emperor, thinking Tai was as astonished as the other two, waved a hand in front of Tai's face, "Yes, um is there anything you would like?"
Tai blinked and tried to word her sentence as nice as she could, "I want nothing, sire."
"Nothing? Nothing at all? But I am offering you anything that I will approve of and you want nothing? Come there must be something you want - don't try and be humble, you deserve it."
Tai shook her head, "No your majesty, I desire nothing."
"Are you sure? Because I could fulfill your dreams, your nearly impossible goals could very well be…"
"Please your highness, I want nothing."
"Very well. However, Lady Tai before you go, could you possibly remove your mask so that we can see the beautiful face of our very first female contestant and winner?"
Tai's eyes widened slightly; she had used a mask that concealed her nose, mouth, and parts of her cheeks to purposely shield her face from identification. If she were to take them off, what she had worked on her entire life - the straining effort in survival would have been in vain. Her entire life would be altered anew, in good and bad ways. Who knew what would happen if she were to take her mask off.
Tai would have agreed if not for her stepfamily and her registration name. Not only had Tai run from her home temporarily, but she had also lied about her identity. Her name was not Tai Caliste as she had registered it, but Kriztian Eklypz. She would not be forgiven if anyone were to find out that she lied to the emperor. Her stepfamily would not allow her to do anything outside the house again (not that she needed their permission) and she would be severely punished by society and her stepfamily. Her reputation as the first female contestant of the Annual Competition would become the infamy of being the girl of deceiving the ruler of the county. The already irritating stares of the audiences became even more annoying as Kriztian though about this. Finally coming to, she answered, "No, I do not wish to do so."
Tethys, who was sitting next to his father, banged his chair arm and jumped from his seat proclaiming, "Lady Tai! Are you denying the emperor?"
That's Lady Kris to you, thought Kriztian. Even though her full name was Kriztian, she despised the name and practically lived on the shortened version, Kris.
She shot the prince a look and held back her temper, calmly replying, "How can I deny the emperor, when it was a question, not a command?"
"Please son," whispered the emperor. Tethys slowly sat down and glared right back at the person known as Tai, "But father, if you are to simply command that she remove her mask, then she will have to listen to you."
"My son you have a lot to learn about being the emperor. Alright then, if you have no desire for anything then I might as well just give you something smaller for your honor and courage." The emperor clapped his hands and an energetic and furious bird was brought forth. However, the servant holding the cage released his grip when the wild bird had found a way to get its talons through the bars to scratch him.
Tethys' temper broke out again, "Father! This is unbearable! First she denies your order and now she claims the right to my bird?"
Kris stood there clenching and flexing her fingers; this kid had worse of a temper tolerance than she did and hers was worse enough. Kris wished to ask the emperor for permission to pound that spoiled, insolent brat, but knew that if she could not control her temper, it would place a bad impression on her newly gained identity. So instead of raising a fist she used a nice exaggerated voice to show that she was getting angry, "May I remind you that first of all, I did not deny an order, it was a question. Second of all, I never claimed anything."
"Now she yells at me, oh father." Tethys buried his head in his father's sleeve.
The emperor shook his head and sighed, "My son, do not fret, I'll give you the Red-Crested Eagle, how's that? Please forgive my son, he has a lot to learn and acts foolish sometimes."
Tai reluctantly replied under her breath, "He's forgiven."
"Anyway, this bird is the Blue-Tailed Falcon, commonly known as the Blue Streak. Many of my servants and courtiers have tried numerous times to break its spirit, but they all have failed. This is rare breed of bird and almost everyone in the castle wants it, but since it cannot be broken, many have given up. If we had broken its spirit, we might have given it to my son. My courtiers and I have been debating on the issue of freeing or keeping this bird. For weeks we have not come to a certain decision, so I am giving you the option of keeping it, leaving it, or freeing it."
Kris stared down at it as it stared back up at her. What could I do with a stupid bird like that? Ugh, I guess I could train it and let it fly free out of sight from my stepfamily… or I could kill it incase my stepfamily decides to starve me for months. Kris grinned at the idea.
It wouldn't hurt… I suppose. Kris nodded her approval to keep it.